Red Light, Green Light
by Citizen Cane
Summary: Turtle shells, rainbow socks, and friendly wagers.  Chark for Chark's sake.


_(AN: First and foremost I want to thank anybody who read, commented on, and faved **Gummi Worms for Breakfast**- I was honestly not expecting such a warm reception and am glad that I was able to entertain a few of you if nothing else. Carrying on in the same vein of great company and conversation, I can only hope to do it once again. Enjoy.)_

"This is a bloodbath," he chuckled as his thumbs worked in a flurry of taps and pushes, chancing a glance at the girl sitting with her back pin-straight against the headboard.

"No, it's not. This is rated E For Everyone. No blood."

She was focused with hawk-like attention on the screen in front of her, tiny fingers barely making a sound on the control pads. When she saw him turn back to his own handheld out of the corner of her eye, she allowed herself a little smirk.

"You suck at this."

"I think I'm doing pretty well for my first time." His accent was especially thick, tongue loosened by the few beers it took to convince him to actually play, not that he had really needed much convincing. "Tosser!" He laughed the word out, jerking to life a bit when he watched the pixelated red turtle shell decimate his go-cart. He was in dead last as it was; there was no need to sidetrack him. "Intimidated by old Bowser, hm? Need to cheat to keep him out of the loop."

"Um, there is no 'Bowzah' in this game. Did you mean 'Bowser'?"

"That's what I said."

"Riiight. Anyway, it's not cheating." She paused a moment so she could cross the finish line in First. "It's rubbing it in."

Chi Park set the handheld aside and stretched her legs out. She had on a t-shirt three sizes too big (supporting some rugby team she was half-convinced was made up) and Pac-Man boxers. She sat forward to tug her knee socks back up; both sat high on her legs and were striped with every vibrant color the rainbow had to offer. Chase noticed her fidgeting with them and laughed under his breath while he tried to use his stylus to draw a cartoon koala head to paste on his go-cart.

"I only lost because I couldn't see past the glare of those socks, you know."

His bedroom attire was much less eccentric, bordering on unexcitingly predictable: plaid flannel pajama pants. He'd given her his shirt, after much protest and gentle bickering, because she had remarked on its obscurity. ("It's my favorite team," he had explained. "Might as well be on my favorite girl.")

She turned and smacked him hard on his bare chest with a snap of her wrist that left a sting. Despite that, he had to chuckle while he moved a hand to rub where it was slowly turning red.

"There's nothing wrong with my socks, Robert. They happen to be lucky."

"And as bright as the sun."

For a while they both sat in shared silence, tooling around with the handheld settings and making whatever cart customizations were available. When he managed to get his crude drawing in place, he rolled on his side to rest his head on her shoulder and give her his best puppy dog eyes.

"…let me wear those socks. I want a rematch, gonna need some luck on my side."

Park just turned to look at him.

"Is this some kind of foot…fetish…thing?"

"Gross, no. I just can't pass up an opportunity to wear something previously owned by Rainbow Brite." Chase craned his head to kiss her neck, just so. "Seriously, though. Give me some good luck."

Park squirmed in a good way, toes fanning out when she felt his three-day stubble against her skin. She put a hand flat against his face and shoved him away, watching as he made a big, dramatic production of falling back onto his side of her bed.

"Oh, stop it," she scolded him as she started to peel the socks off. "Big baby. I'm only doing this because you need all the help you can get."

"And because you like me."

"That's inconsequential to the matter." She smacked him in the face with the first sock before handing it over.

"Fancy way of saying 'yes'." Chase rolled his pajama pants up to his knee and started to pull the sock on, with the intention of tucking the flannel into the top of the socks.

"Don't stretch them out with your gorilla feet." Park played with a straight face while setting up the next race.

"My god, you're abusive tonight." Chase leaned over and reached to take her other sock off. Like before she smacked his wrist with precision and a snap.

"Let's make this interesting."

Chase hooked a finger in her remaining sock and kept it there.

"What, like playing naked? Because I'm okay with that."

Park snorted and peeled the other sock off, holding it just out of his reach.

"I meant more like make a bet."

Chase rolled on his side and reached for it, even though he knew she was going to yank it away at the last second. When she did as he predicted he kept his head propped up on a hand and watched her.

"I love a good wager. What'd you have in mind?"

"If I win, you grow your hair back out."

Park felt her cheeks flush because she wordlessly admitted to having snooped a bit to discover that years ago he had quite an admirable head of hair. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, afraid that he would either seem bothered or look at her like she was pathetic. When neither happened, she let out a small rush of air as if she had dodged a bullet. Chase noticed but kept the conversation going.

"Fair enough. If I win we get to tell people. You know…about us."

Any banter they had going was killed on the spot and point blank. Park stiffened in an instant, gripping her handheld with obvious force. She couldn't hide the upset on her face and looked almost more hurt than angry.

"I told you, Robert, I c-can't. House would be relentless and I've been on the verge of enough nervous breakdowns as it is. If he came at us full force- and he will- I won't be able to handle that. Besides, it's our business."

"People are already talking. All rumors, but still. They're going to make their own conclusions when they see us having lunch, in the lab, talking in the hall. Nature of the beast, and all. And not for nothing but when I was dating my ex-wife we lasted all of a week before House found us out."

True as it all was, the last statement seemed to cheer Park up considerably and she turned to smile small at him.

"…we're on three months."

"Right and that's all the more reason to expect the other shoe to drop. Way too long for anything to fly under his radar."

She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a gentle but authoritative knock on her door, followed by her father's voice. What it was he said was lost on Chase because he didn't speak the language but he instantly turned his wrist to check his watch.

"Twelve already. Damn."

"I'm sorry," Chi rubbed her face a little, having removed her glasses. "It's just…you know…this is their house, and-"

"Don't worry about it. Makes me feel young." Chase lifted his brows in a quick waggle and rolled off the bed. "I'm keeping this sock, by the way."

"You are not!" Chi laughed it out and moved off the bed to try and advance on him menacingly. "You give that back, Robert Chase."

"Make me." He waited with ready hands and was able to block the little slaps he knew were coming. His hold on her wrists was soft and loose and he turned her with a bit of practiced grace to pin her against the wall. Fingers slid up her arms, grazing her neck on their way to her face and he held her still while he leaned in to slide his tongue past her barely parted lips, feeling her resistance in jest fade away as she melted into him. When he let go of her arms she locked her hands around his neck at the wrist and took to her tiptoes to close the distance between them, holding the embrace.

When he finally broke it, Chase smiled at her and gave her a little pat on the cheek.

"Happy Birthday, Chi."

She breathed her thank you out in a whisper and slumped back against the wall, fingertips against her lips as if to contain the taste of him, his scent lingering around her. If she was blushing she didn't care a bit about it. By the time she was able to reply in earnest, he already had his coat on and buttoned, his sneakers on but unlaced- she knew he wasn't going to bother tying them.

"You're not keeping that sock."

"No?" He was moving for the door, smirking all the while. It was only a matter of a minute or so and her father would come knocking again.

"…well. Just for tonight."

"We'll see." He stopped when she tugged on his peacoat and turned to wrap her up in a quick but honest hug, relenting only when she started smacking his arm.

"Or crush me." The joke was glittering in her eyes as she opened the door and unceremoniously shoved him out. She lingered in the doorway after he stumbled into the hall, watching him try to play it off. "Thank you for the DS. Now you need one that isn't my hand-me-down First Gen."

"We'll see." He repeated past a final grin, shoving his hands in his pockets as he started down the stairs. A brief goodbye to her parents and he was gone, leaving her there in her room with just his empty bottles and the smell of his aftershave to get her through a night of missing him.

**XX**

She wondered when he was going to just get a damn haircut already. They were standing together, chatting idly by the nurses' station in the clinic and Jessica Adams couldn't think of anything other than how badly she wanted to take scissors to Chase's hair. It was seemingly stuck (for the past few weeks, if not a month) at that awkward stage of growing out where nothing a person could do would give it any direction. All it seemed to do was shag because it wouldn't stay slicked back or parted and he was constantly shaking his head to sweep it out of his eyes.

She wanted to strangle him.

"Jessica," he looked a little concerned, waving a hand in front of her face. "Everything all right?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Fine. I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Chase eyed her skeptically but obliged a reiteration.

"I asked if we could carpool this week. Car's in the shop."

"I don't know, I usually carpool with Park."

"I know." He spoke too quickly but Adams ignored it, for his sake. "Would she mind?"

"I don't think so, I mean you're not terribly far out of the way."

"So you'll ask her? Great!"

Chase reached out to hit her on the arm, his feigned excitement obvious. Still, something about how he pretended it wasn't was actually endearing. Go figure.

"You know. I'm not doing anything for lunch tod-"

A little, electronic beep cut her off and she realized too late that it wasn't a pager. She saw Chase pull a small black something clandestinely out of his pocket.

"Gotta go," he murmured, swiping at his hair.

"Is that a GameBoy?"

"What? No."

He smiled but furrowed his brow and scoffed like it was an outrageous question, hasty backwards steps pedaling him out of the clinic.

"See you bright and early, Adams!"

He was gone with a smile and a lazy wave, swiftly exiting the hospital while he pulled the device out- _liar_, was all she could say to herself: it _was_ a GameBoy. Adams shook her head and turned to retreat back into the clinic unaware of Park as she rose from the lobby bench and took leave herself, turning in the same direction to follow Chase and fall in stride beside him before the little animated light turned green.


End file.
